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Gonzales & Ascension Parish


dan326

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Gonzales could be a more walkable city if the city and parish governments were dedicated to it.

They are getting better, they have recently put in sidewalks on Hwy 44. In Prairieville, LA 42 will have sidewalks and bike lanes when it's widened. I hope as these improvements are made people actually use them so they continue this expansion.

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They are getting better, they have recently put in sidewalks on Hwy 44. In Prairieville, LA 42 will have sidewalks and bike lanes when it's widened. I hope as these improvements are made people actually use them so they continue this expansion.

My parents live on Hwy 42, were I lived in high school. I can't imagine seeing people walking on 42 though, just not enough development.

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My parents live on Hwy 42, were I lived in high school. I can't imagine seeing people walking on 42 though, just not enough development.

I would imagine very few will use it at first, however this is one of those deals where they have to build it up and it will take time. I'd rather them put it in now versus long after it's needed.

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I would imagine very few will use it at first, however this is one of those deals where they have to build it up and it will take time. I'd rather them put it in now versus long after it's needed.

So do I. Although I can't imagine sidewalks wide enough and development patters shift to more street level buildings. Some of the large lots need to be developed, with a better network of streets. I like how LeBlanc's sits in front of those two subdivisions, although they should be connected. There's an empty lot in front of my parents subdivision between McCrory 1 Rd and Les Chenier that could be developed to try and get some people walking. With widening and crosswalks it could look nothing like before.

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  • 1 month later...

Development gets new blood

GONZALES — The 340-acre mixed-use development Edenborne is emerging from financial and legal troubles during the past 18 months that escalated to the point that the site was ordered for seizure by Ascension Parish sheriff’s deputies and sold for unpaid taxes.

But investors in the project along Interstate 10 in Gonzales have a new financing agreement with First NBC Bank in New Orleans and paid off the project’s former lender and the back taxes, according to a project attorney and land records.

Edenborne, which is to be the future home of River Parishes Community College, has lost some of its Michigan investors and gained local backers who include NFL Colts wide receiver and New Orleans-area native Reggie Wayne, one of those new investors said.

“I hope to start cutting lumber off our property this week forthcoming,” co-investor Brian Rickel said on Friday.

He said he and Wayne were approached four months ago. He said the growth and jobs in Ascension, as well as the industrial investment in the region, including the $3.4 billion Nucor steel mill in neighboring St. James Parish, made the project attractive.

“I firmly believe in the state, in Louisiana, and believe more in Gonzales than most places I have ever been and feel very proud and fortunate to be a part of this development,” Rickel said.

Rickel said he shares a majority stake in Edenborne Development Co. LLC with Wayne through R.D. Wayne Development Co. LLC.

Bill Clark, a developer with Michigan roots who is one of Edenborne’s original investors, remains a co-manager only as an individual, land records show.

Called a traditional neighborhood development, Edenborne is located at the southwest corner of I-10 and La. 44. A major commercial strip along I-10, several hundred homes and multifamily units, as well as RPCC, are planned in Edenborne.

The initial phase of the new college is being funded with $19 million set aside from a $151 million bond issue for state community and technical colleges. Another $2 million grant from the state Board of Regents is paying for the land, according to an RPCC news release.

Work on an access road and other infrastructure should begin this month and be extended to the RPCC site in three months, said John Seago, attorney for Edenborne.

The road and infrastructure, for which Seago said First NBC has provided $2.8 million to build, would link the site with La. 44.

On June 20, the developers of Edenborne signed a $2 million purchase agreement with the state through the Division of Administration for a 43-acre tract within Edenborne.

Among the conditions, the agreement requires that the road and infrastructure be ready for RPCC within a year of the signing, the agreement says.

Spokespersons for the Division of Administration and Louisiana Community and Technical College System said officials were not aware of the recently settled legal troubles.

A spokeswoman for the system was not available for comment Friday after Edenborne officials spoke about their plans.

But a January presentation on the system website estimates that construction on RPCC would start in June and last a year.

Rickel said he hopes to see the rest of the road finished by June so work on homes and multi-family units can start.

He said initial work putting up a silt fence has been done and plans to meet with Gonzales Mayor Barney Arceneaux early this week about permits.

Arceneaux confirmed the planned meeting and that the project seems to be moving forward.

Edenborne’s developers had been talking with Gonzales officials and the Ascension Parish School Board to locate in the project.

Originally scheduled for construction in 2008, Edenborne was caught in the economic slowdown of the past several years.

The school system, which had discussed locating a school next to RPCC for dual enrollment, bought 63 acres in a tract across La. 44 from Edenborne a few months ago for a future high school, said Johnnie Balfantz, school system spokesman.

“We have no current interest at the Edenborne site,” he said.

Arceneaux said the city remains interested.

The current forward momentum is a turnabout from the last year and a half, though Edenborne officials have maintained they were working out the financial and legal issues.

In October 2010, Edenborne was sued in the 23rd Judicial District Court by adjacent landowners, Three Thirty-Nine LLC and Emirau Partners LP, over the then-unbuilt access road now set for construction.

The corporations sold the site to Edenborne, but the sale landlocked their remaining property so Edenborne agreed to build a road.

In April 2011, RBS Citizens, which held the $11.25 million mortgage on the property, sued Edenborne to recoup unpaid principal and interest of nearly $9.2 million.

The suit over the road appeared to be headed for appeal late last year, potentially further delaying the project. But on Dec. 30, the parties closed an agreement to pay off RBS and settle the road dispute, Seago said.

Earlier this month, dismissal papers were filed for the original road suit and the appeal, court records say.

David Rubin, attorney for RBS, said the suit over the loan has been resolved.

http://theadvocate.com/home/2036742-125/development-gets-new-blood.html

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  • 1 month later...

This is older news...Seems like they could have compromised the flood-gate for a lower water level...they were keeping water levels too high unnaturally in the basin/swamp; however opening the gates allowed everything to nearly dry-up. Kind of sad to see Spanish Lake on Google Earth now.....Why was Bayou Manchac cut-off from the Mississippi River again?? Was that way back in 1927? This allowed the historic bayou to dramatically reduce it's size.....should the controlled flood-gate been built there instead??

Alligator Bayou owners: parishes ruined our business

http://theadvocate.com/home/2361645-125/owners-of-swamp-tour-firm

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  • 2 weeks later...

I haven't heard anyone say anything about the proposed "Westbank Expressway" That runs through the west side of Ascension Parish, nor the proposed Ascension-Livingston Toll Road that suppose to link Denham Springs with P'ville-Gonzales.

1. No parish has the funds for this.

2. Both Ascension and Livingston have said they would vote against it.

3. It's been discussed on here.

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I haven't heard anyone say anything about the proposed "Westbank Expressway" That runs through the west side of Ascension Parish, nor the proposed Ascension-Livingston Toll Road that suppose to link Denham Springs with P'ville-Gonzales.

In the future I'd like to see LA 1 upgraded and tolled. The Acsension/Livingston road needs to be built.

When did they say they would vote against it? Doesn't add up since the parish itself (Livingston?) propsoed it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is a few weeks old...interesting/controversial things going on behind the scenes in Ascension...Prairieville wants to do what Central & Zachary... Parish Pres trying to ram controversial bill(where have I heard that?) down people's throat...giving greater authority to the parish to expropriate (take / steal) property. He wants the smart growth utopia, and all the fun things that come with it....

Prairieville could become official city

Some in Prairieville want their area to become an official city, and they are spending their own money to do it.

Milton Clouatre and a handful of people he knows are concerned the tax money they pay goes not to their area, but instead to other parts of the parish. Clouatre wants to hire a consulting firm to see if the area could incorporate itself, and met today with some consultants out of Zachary.

Clouatre wants tax dollars to go toward more law enforcement in his part of town. He said in the past, it's been difficult to attain.

"The people in this area had to do serious fighting with local government to save or achieve what they wanted to achieve in that local area," Clouatre told News 2. Folks in Prairieville News 2 spoke with all said they thought the idea of becoming a city was fine, as long as they don't have to pay more taxes.

"We're taxed to death now," Brian Walker said. Some think it isn't feasible to turn the area into a city without new taxes.

"It's kind of small for it to become a city by itself, no big money base but the Wal-Mart across the street," David Galaga said.

Clouatre insists he does not want to institute a new tax if the area becomes a city. Instead, the money paid by people in the area would be funneled back to them. "If we can't do it without that, I will be in favor of abandoning the project," Clouatre told News 2.

If the city incorporates, a parish board could vote in a 7-mill property tax without voter approval, according to John Gallagher with the Louisiana Municipal Association. Any other new taxes for individual residents, such as a sales tax increase, would have to be voted in by people who live there, Gallagher said.

Clouatre said he and the supporters of incorporation will have to raise the money to pay for consultants themselves. They also plan to set up a website and hold community meetings in the future. Those dates have not yet been determined.

http://www.wbrz.com/news/prairieville-could-become-official-city

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 5 weeks later...

A bowling alley with a movie cinema are nice compliments IMO...BR should have done this long ago...combining it bowling/cinema with a Laser Tag/Arcade (instead of in isolation next to Amedysis on So.Sherwood Forest Blvd)...a large entertainment complex intertwined with a few restaurants.

Ascension coming out with Green Light Plan of their own...need to locate that map I saw earlier in the week but did not bother to post...there are plenty of proposals...

http://theadvocate.com/home/3140154-125/ascension-finishing-25-year-135-million

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New hotels, restaurants shaping up at Sportsman's Park

Sportsman's Park, the Gonzales development that's home to Cabela's, has seen some significant activity in recent months. On June 15, Tower Capital Holdings LLC sold a 54,007-square-foot lot on which a 60-room La Quinta hotel will be built, with construction to start soon. The buyer, LG LLC, paid $15.50 per square foot and was represented by Dale Stram. Steve Legendre of Beau Box Commercial Real Estate represented Tower Capital Holdings, which also has a pair of purchase agreements on other lots in Sportsman's Park. A restaurant and a 10,800-square-foot retail center—to be anchored by a

Chinese restaurant—are to be developed on those sites. Legendre is brokering both transactions.

Carlisle Resorts also owns property surrounding Cabela's, and two years ago it sold a site to Comfort Suites. That hotel is now under construction and will consist of 77 rooms occupying a building of at least four stories. Brent Rhodes, who represents Carlisle Resorts, says a contract has also been inked with a national steakhouse restaurant, with the pending purchase agreement expected to close in July. The Cabela's development had slowed since the recession took hold in 2008, but recent activity seems to indicate a much healthier retail market on the horizon.

http://www.businessr...inessreport0113

Edited by richyb83
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